Amenity Lifeline Emergency Response Team, or ALERT, is an NGO started in 2006 by Kala Balasundaram, Senior Delivery Manager with Hewlett-Packard. Kala and her team of volunteers train “focus groups” comprising educational institutions, corporates and drivers on how to lend help to any accident victim.

The volunteers, along with a group of expert doctors and trained professionals, are involved in training citizens. The three-hour programme held weekly covers first-aid topics, basic life-support techniques and cardio pulmonary resuscitation. It also orients one to avail of the ‘108’ emergency service. Lawmakers and police are also invited to these weekly meeting to educate public in facing them in times of distress.

“I always wondered why people never come forward to help an accident victim,” says Kala. “When we conducted a survey in this regard, we found that the hassle of running behind police and hospital authorities stopped them.”

These accidents need not be on road. “It can happen anywhere – at your house, industries, institutions, etc. And we train public on how to handle each of them,” says Kala, who played an active role in starting the Burn Ward Unit at Kilpauk Medical College.

Orienting with ALERT

Anyone can help a victim but an ALERT trained person makes the difference. “We help by preventing the condition from getting worse,” says S. Balaji, volunteer. The NGO currently has 20 core members, with a number of floating volunteers around the city.

ALERT has also signed a MoU with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to train volunteers. “The training costs nothing and there is a lot to be gained,” adds Kala. ALERT has successfully trained more than 10,000 people in the city and the numbers are growing.

If you would like to get trained, drop in an email to info@alert-wecare.org or call ALERT at 98843 18848. Visit them at www.alert-wecare.org

Despite the tense moments that she along with million other Indians across the country had to go through, she was able to smile. Thanks to her online friends, who know nothing or care about the Mumbai attacks but are willing to help, even if it is through a virtual hug.

Making friends online is still an alien concept to many. And promoting them from virtual to real friends is scary to many others. “I was scared initially. How can I make friends with random strangers? But now I’m so happy that I have friends from across the world.” Kalathmika affirms.

Thanks to pre-conceived notions, like the Internet is just an endless repository of potential serial killers, many people are yet to find out the actual truth. That the Internet is also full of like-minded engaging people. For the first time in history we’re lucky enough to choose friends not by location or luck, but pinpoint perfect friends by rounding up people with amazingly similar interests, matching politics, senses of humour and passionate feelings about the tiniest hobbies.

For Pradeep, online friends seem to be much closer than his real college friends. “By making friends online, you’re simply speeding through the whole process, bypassing shyness and getting rid of the social awkwardness that comes with trying to make a friend out of a stranger. For people like me, who are shy and a little socially awkward, moving a conversation from the Net to a coffee shop is a much more normal and hassle-free process.”

Although the Internet has stretched the boundaries of friendship, it has created a lot of exciting possibilities to compensate the traditions it may have ended. Making online friends is a great way to know more about different cultures and happenings across the world. For instance, the Lunar New Year, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa take a whole new deal of importance on your list because you have a very dear friend celebrating it.

At the end of the day, the very thought that you have someone to whom you can rant on about anything is a very invigorating prospect. It is strange at first. People you’ve never met before are the first to wish a ‘Happy Birthday’. But even if they’re strange, you wouldn’t want to trade them for anything.

Kalathmika sums it up best. “These are friends whom you playfully promise to meet some day soon and secretly make a note to yourself that you will. These are friends who despite everything have stayed with you, despite never seeing you.”

Ergo readers write on their experience with friends on social networking sites

Annoyingly funny

A pretty picture of your true self or a fake one is enough to catch the eyes of the wanderers on these social networking sites. Boom comes the request, “Do you wanna friendship wid me?” Arghhhhh!

Countless ‘NO’ to ignore these friendship requests doesn’t work and you eventually add the person to your list, reluctantly and wondering if the person is real or unreal. Nevertheless, you are so overwhelmed when everyone on your friends’ list makes a sincere effort to scrap a wish on your birthday. Nothing wrong in saying these are “Annoyingly Funny”.

Anita Clementina, Cognizant

Mistaken identity!

An unknown and mistaken identity opened the doors of friendship. I was lucky to find one of my best pals a year ago. To what I was before and to what I am today I owe it to this buddy. It all started with a mistaken identity and the friendship grew with mails and daily SMSes. Today I have a shoulder to share my joys and sorrows. There’s never been a day where we missed making a call. Thanks a lot, Raji.

Senthil, Wipro

Fraanship request

When I first heard about Orkut, I was hesitant about joining it as Internet security issues always haunted me.

But my curiosity got over my fear to take a look at how it works. And in no time I got in touch with so many of my school friends, most of whom I lost touch. The long wait for my joining date thanks to recession got me to explore Facebook, too. I got active with two-three communities, this after carefully monitoring the people who post in these forums. I have even met some of these online friends, though I was nervous initially.

One such friend whom I got is Ramya. She is also a twin like me and we have so many common hobbies. She has been there for me during my tough times. Even if we don’t talk daily or meet regularly, we know what’s happening in each other’s lives and are always there for each other. I also know of a couple of friends where the friendship has changed life partners.

But, it’s very rare that you meet nice people through these sites. There are people who’ll irritate by scrapping you or sending friendship requests (actually its fraanship request!!). Personally for me, Orkut has been a great source of communication between me and my friends.

B. Soundarya, Cognizant

I am social

Read on to know how each of the social networking sites have added spice to my life

Linkedin.com – It’s here where I get good consulting/insights on business and work free of cost

Twitter – It’s the formula to become popular

Blog – A writers land for sure

Orkut – This is mainly for those I know on a personal level.

It’s also where people (girls) encounter “can we be friends” scraps – the only bug in orkut

Facebook – A cool applications to play with

Digg – Get all the bizarre information you want to see/hear is available.

Girish Mahadevan

Compiled by R.Preethi

How did Kanthasaamy come your way?

After doing the visual effects for Kamal Haasan’s Dasavathaaram, we got the lead for this movie but it was a challenge as it came from a big banner. Director Susi briefed us for one piece of visual effects work. It took us two months to complete this particular requirement and finally he was convinced with the output and of the fact that visual effects (VFX) are an effective alternative.

What unique visual effects have you incorporated in the movie?

The movie is based on a superhero story and this could not have been done without VFX. It was an integral part of the story. There are a lot of fantasy elements, surreal scenes and plenty of green screen shots, which helped us achieve the final look. Around 1,500 shots of VFX, much more than an average movie (which has about 200-300 VFX shots), have been used.

What were the challenges faced?

We had to create a scene of a cornfield located near an IT park. This was quite difficult to accomplish realistically as there were day and night scenes. So we had to add 3D buildings in the background in addition to the real buildings and recreate them for the night scene as well.

For the first time, we made a male actor feminine, in a sequence where Vikram appears dressed as a woman. It took us a while figuring out how to do it but it was not an impossible task. We used skin-grafting techniques by using heroine Shriya’s skin to soften his face. We also toned down his muscles and made him slimmer by around 20 per cent.

Quite a few different techniques were used to get the required effect. Like any other movie, there were last-minute changes, new requirements by the team to be delivered in short deadlines. But the whole team headed by my wife Sanjana, technical head of the company, handled it brilliantly.

How was it working with the Kanthasaamy crew?

Initially, there was a lot of confusion about certain scenes where the scenes were shot in multiple locations and had to be assembled into one seamless scene. But Susi had a clear vision and this helped us a lot. Be it balloon lights for the night shoots or even massive green screens at the corn field in Theni, the production team comprising art director Thota Tharani, director of photography Ekambaram and producer Kalai Puli Thanu discussed with us each shot and also supported us with all the requirements with regards to VFX.

Your views on the current scenario of the visual effects industry in Kollywood…

Filmmakers have started to recognise the potential of visual effects and are open to exploring it. Extensive usage of visual effects can also reduce the budget of a movie.

The Indians came out in full throttle and the makeshift forward pairing of skipper Baichung Bhutia and Sushil Singh showed some urgency and combined well to create problems in the rival defence. The duo produced a few half chances with Bhutia even testing the keeper with a long-ranger a quarter of an hour into the match.

Throwing in a surprise of his own and much to the relief of the players the referee called for a water break in the 22nd minute. The match was played in four quarters instead of the usual two halves, a necessity considering the heat wave Barcelona is facing this year.

The hosts looked a little more energised after the mini-break and came close to scoring the opener 10 minutes to the interval. The Indians were lucky to scramble out from a goalmouth raid and both sides went into the break on a deadlock.

Like the first game, Indian coach Bob Houghton went in with a new setup of players for the second session, replacing his whole team except goalie Subrata Paul. Govin Singh and Jagpreet Singh got their first feel of match play on this tour and looked at ease combining well with Mehrajuddin Wadoo in midfield.

The reserves were actually a step or two ahead of their regular counterparts – Syed Rahim Nabi and Yadav looked lethal upfront with a steady burst of pace.

Senior internationals Renedy Singh and Dipak Mandal too combined well down the left flank and most of India’s attacks generated from that side. Showing a tendency to hold on to the ball and playing short passes, a departure from the long-ball tactics of the last game, the visitors dominated possession for most part of the last 45 minutes.

“We were playing too many long and aerial passes during the first game. And the big bodied and taller Spaniards were easily dealing with it. These guys have a huge height advantage over our boys and we have to account for that,” coach Houghton said.

They were paid for their hard work in the 60th minute when R. Mohanraj’s long clearance was picked up by Nabi, who played it to Renedy, and the veteran midfielder’s cross was headed in by Yadav to give India the lead.

Eleven minutes later, on the other side of another mini-break, the former Mumbai FC forward, who is yet to find a club, doubled his and India’s tally when he headed in a Mondal cross.

India played out the rest of the game in a relatively easier tempo. Still, Yadav came close to scoring his hattrick way into the five minutes of injury-time. But he narrowly missed the flight of a Govin centre again from the left in the 94th minute.

Like Tendulkar, she too basked in the limelight very early in her career, scoring a mammoth 214 against England during the second Test in Taunton in 2002 when she was just 19. At the time it was the highest Test score by a batswoman (Kiran Baluch later scored 242 against West Indies in March 2004) and even now she proudly occupies the second spot. “I didn’t even think I was good enough to hit a century. A double was just a dream and I think that changed my career,” the trained Bharatanatyam dancer says.

A lesson or two from her classical foray in her early years might well have helped her become a classic bat for which she is known world over. “At least, I am nimble on my feet. Maybe all that dancing during childhood has something to do with it,” she acknowledges.

Mithali matured on to become the mainstay of Indian batting along with former skipper Anjum Chopra, whom she succeeded briefly before handing over the reigns to present incumbent Jhulan Goswami. At just 26 she is one of the senior-most in a relatively young team and has taken over the mantle well.

“Most of the girls are very young and it’s our job to guide them through. The three of us are the unofficial think-tank and fortunately we get along well contrary to all the running rumours,” Mithali clarifies. Media glare hasn’t even spared this form of the game and rumours were rife with a tiff between her and Jhulan during the just-concluded T20 World Cup. It was said that Mithali was not too pleased batting lower down the order and was keen on opening the innings but was not given a chance by the skipper.

“In T20s you have to innovate and at times your best players should be promoted up to get the maximum time,” she says. “But we are playing it only off late and will take time to get our strategies right.”

But she is quick to recognise the sudden adulation the women’s game is getting because of the simultaneous running of both the men’s and women’s game during the last T20 World Cup in England. “Playing the semi-finals as a curtain raiser for the men’s game was a huge experience.

We have hardly seen packed grounds before and the game was telecast live everywhere,” Mithali recalls. “I wish we had qualified for the final. Would have played at Lord’s then.”

The Indian Railways employee has her focus set on the next T20 championships in the West Indies and feels the team should play more of the shorter version of the game to adapt quickly. “I think the best way for women’s cricket to go forward is adopt T20 readily. Test matches in our circle are far in-between and One-Dayers are getting out of sync,” she says. “A few more T20s will keep us in good shape and our first trip to the Caribbean isles may turn out to be a memorable one.”

The 17-year-old high school senior from Sharjah is fighting cancer. He is diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) which attacked him at the end of January, bringing him to Apollo Hospitals in Chennai where he is undergoing treatment.

Besides fighting cancer from within, Akash is organising a run to raise funds as well as create awareness on the disease. The Terry Fox Run is being held in the city for the first time on August 30, on the IIT-Madras campus.

“I had near perfect SAT scores and was one of the youngest members of Mensa. I thought I was on my way to realising my dream of following my brother to Stanford University, when the little blood spots on my forearm seemingly shattered my hopes and dreams,” Akash writes in the note he has been circulating in various organisations about his fight with cancer.

“There were times when I was down, but my family always gave me support. Initiating the run gave me something to do when my chemo was on,” he says.

Run for a cause

Akash and the Terry Fox annual charity run have been associated for some years now. He has been taking part in the annual Dubai run for the last six years, where he has been collecting 500 to 600 dirham for the foundation every year.

“This year was the first time I missed being part of the run as I was in hospital. That’s when I thought of organising a similar event here.”

It’s another challenging job for the NRI who says he has never been to schools in India. Chennai is equally new to him, except his mother’s association as an alumnus of IIT-Madras and his relatives who are spreading the word.

“I recently visited Kendriya Vidyalaya at IIT, where the principal asked me to come and speak in the assembly,” says Akash, who is gearing up to prepare a speech. Using technology Akash is campaigning more about the run, getting volunteers and making arrangements for D-Day. Keeping him equally busy is the SAT Physics paper, for which he will be appearing this October.

Like a picnic

What makes this run special is that there are no prizes to be won; you get a certificate of participation. One can run on anything non-motorised to show your support for the cause. “It’s usually a fun day, like a picnic,” his mother recalls. Akash asserts, “Come run. Today’s research is tomorrow’s cure.”

You took time off from your frenzied work schedules to drop off food at shelters, sent money to ‘Mary of the Thirty Cats’, volunteered to be foster parents for baby squirrels, bought ceiling fans for abandoned dogs, signed online petitions and sponsored medical care for handicapped rescues. Your response to the appeals has always been a certainty. On behalf of the animals, the trustees thank you for your consistent generosity and hope that you will continue to support them.

Four Legs Good’s last and most important thank you is directed at the compassionate folks who adopted the puppies and kittens that were featured in this space. Here’s hoping your friends and relatives will be inspired by you and that they will take in rescued animals instead of buying them from breeders.

While it’s not yet clear what direction this column will take in the online edition, it would be great to hear from you if you are interested in helping animals in any way. Please check out my column in The Hindu Metro Plus on Wednesdays titled ‘Pet Pals’ or email me at sriya.narayanan@gmail.com.

And since all my articles end with an appeal, here’s one more! Please remember to spay/neuter your pet or friendly neighbourhood street dog. Preventing unwanted births is a great way to improve the quality of their lives. Thank you again and stay in touch.

(The author is a marketing professional with The Hindu and blogs at sriyanarayanan.blogspot.com)

ICL players, who are now looking for ways to get back to mainstream cricket, were barred from participating in any form of international cricket by the BCCI and even the ICC.

According to BCCI sources, high interest level of franchise owners in particular foreign players like Shane Bond, Justin Kemp and Inzamam-ul Haq has paved the way for this decision. Individual franchises have already got in touch with a few of the players and are just awaiting the BCCI green signal.

Incidentally, Bengal middle-order batsman Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, who was part of the probables list of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, has already attended a training camp for the Rajasthan Royals and was also part of their one-off English sojourn against Middlesex earlier this month.

Apart from him other domestic players like Deep Dasgupta, Rohan Gavaskar, Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia and Ambabati Rayadu, all of whom have now terminated their contracts with ICL, are expected to land meaty deals.

“We are waiting for an official statement from the IPL governing body. There are a lot of cricketers in the ICL bandwagon who interest us,” Kolkata Knight Riders’ Joy Bhattacharya says.

With most teams already having filled up their maximum quota of 10 foreign players, it’s the domestic players who stand the chance of maximum gain. “I am not sure of the foreigners, but a few good young domestic players will definitely add balance to the side,” says Amrit Mathur from Delhi Daredevils.

Modi, too, is not willing to leave the cash cow unattended and is hoping for another grand auction for these players, sometime in September.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu fast bowler Rajamani Jesuraj became the first cricketer from the ICL fold to represent a state team after he was picked for the KSCA All-India Invitation Tournament. The KSCA tournament is a pre-season series which is used by teams to finalise their Ranji Trophy squads.

“I never thought I would get a chance to play for Tamil Nadu again. I am thankful to the selectors and hope I can repay the confidence shown in me,” he says.

The 26-year-old made his first-class debut for the state in 2003-04 and played his last match in December 2006 before joining the ICL. However, in a surprise move the state selectors have ignored senior pros Badani and S. Sriram (both have scored prolifically in the ongoing club games), throwing a question mark over their career revival.

The kennel in namma Chennai is proud enough to be known as the first training centre for dogs to be started in entire India. From detecting drugs and explosives to tracking culprits and guarding VIPs, the canine heroes here have found enough space in newspapers and magazines speaking about their bravery.

Early daysStarted in 1952, the Madras City Police Kennel was first located inside the CB-CID office campus on Anna Salai. Later it was shifted to Egmore in 1956, where it is situated till date. The first batch of dogs for training was sourced by the Indian Government from Germany. Now the Chennai City Police Dog Squad is 27-member-strong and the breeds now on duty include German Shepherd, Great Dane, Labrador retriever, Doberman pinscher and Rottweiler.

N. Radhakkannu, Sub-Inspector of Police and in-charge of dog squad, Chennai, says the dogs trained in Tamil Nadu are sent to other Indian states even now. “The dogs for Railways, Military and Police departments are trained by instructors in Tamil Nadu. Now every state and district is equipped with kennels,” he adds.

Handler-dog relationThe pups, taken into service at the age of three months and above, develop a strong bonding with their handlers. “When we get the tiny ones, we have to pamper them like we pamper a kid.

Patience is the first word a handler has to keep in mind always. Even if the dog doesn’t obey the commands, the handler should not get angry or cane it. Instead, he should coax it and make it do as told,” says B. Ashok Kumar, a dog handler.

“The animal will be playing with you, but once harnessed the dog knows it is on duty and will be alert from that very moment. My dog can even identify the sound of my bike,” he says proudly.

PensionThe government, which allocates Rs. 6,000 to buy a puppy, provides Rs. 55 per day for its food when it is in service. The retirement age is 10 to 12 years for a dog. In 2007, for the first time two retired dogs, Ponni and Oscar, received their lifetime pension – Rs. 44 per and official accommodation. Previously, retired police animals were auctioned off. After a canine dies, the carcass is donated to Government Veterinary Hospital in Vepery.

Judging by the stream of visitors at this shop, we think it is no understatement. For five years now, this sweet shop on Choolaimedu High Road has been specialising in Bengali sweets and savouries. A.K. Das, along with wife Kakoli Das and brother Madhusudan Das, has been running the place, with 15 others working as kitchen staff.

“Making sweets in Bengal is much easier than in Chennai. The paneer is readily available but here we prepare it fresh, which makes it a laborious process,” explains A.K. Das, who works with a health scientific publication in the mornings.

Why is this place a preferred destination for sweets? According to Das, the sugar, especially that used for preparing sandesh, is extracted from the khajur plant only in winter. “It has a different flavour, which you will get while relishing our sweets.” Around 100 kilos of the sugar is bought, which he sparingly uses to last him a year. Otherwise, around 150 litres of sweets are prepared a day.

Undoubtedly, sandesh is one of the best-selling items on the menu. The steamed milk sweet is available in different shapes – fruits, vegetables, fish (for wedding ceremonies), pond, etc.

If you do not have a sweet tooth except during some special occasions, do try chum-chum, which is not very sweet yet soft and comes with a shelf life of four hours. Chittaranjan also falls in a similar category. Both chum-chum and chittaranjan are prepared in limited quantity, so make sure you place your order in advance.

Chitrakut, noukabilash, sita bhog, raj bhog, radha ballavi (served only on Saturdays and Sundays) and jala bhara are some of the other Bengali delicacies. The sweets are priced from Rs. 180 to Rs. 250 a kilo.

No Bengali meal is complete without sweets, but Das says his community in the city does not consume as much sweets as they gorge in their hometown. So, to complement his business there is a live parotta, chappati and chaat counter.

Kolkata Mithai Bhavan

How to get there: Take the first left after the Loyola College underpass. The shop is in Chitra Shopping Inn, No. 9A, Choolaimedu High Road, Chennai – 600 094. Contact No: 23451297. Open: 10 a.m. to 10.30 p.m

Too Good for Critics is a weekly column to celebrate Namma Chennai’s ‘Kaiyendi Bhavans’ and small eateries. If you can think of a similar place, mail us at feedback@goergo.in